Hermes Press reissuing first Dark Shadows collection

How about some good news?

Hermes Press is bringing the first volume of its Dark Shadows series back into print. Back in 2010 the company began collecting the entire Gold Key comic book series into hardback, a collection that eventually spanned five hardcover books, a "best of" collection and a reprint of Gold Key's 1970 Dark Shadows Story Digest one-shot. All of these books have remained available in recent years, except for the first volume of the Gold Key comics collection. At the moment it's selling for $143 on Amazon, which is the cheapest it's been for years. No, really.

Hermes Press announced this morning that it's re-issuing the volume. While no release date is attached, the book is available for preorder for $49.99 at the company's website HERE. Go get it!

The late night, double feature picture show

For the last few weeks, I've been building short videos for the Collinsport Historical Society's social media pages. These videos tend to contrast a behind-the-scenes image with a short clip of the related episode or movie. It takes a bit of work to connect the dots from the original photo to determine with which episode they're connected, and it's been a fun to solve these mysteries.

Facebook and Instagram have been the primary targets (sorry Twitter, but you make video too challenging) and they've been popular. I try to make these experiences unique to readers so that the people reading Twitter aren't seeing the same content as Facebook, Instagram or even the primary website. The overall goal, or course, is to get you to visit us here, but some people are satisfied simply seeing the occasional photo from DARK SHADOWS in their Facebook feeds and leave it at that. Others just read the website and ignore Twitter, while some on Instagram don't appear to know there's even a website attached to the account. So I like to post occasional reminders here at the main hub about some of the things we're doing on social media.

Below is an example of the short videos we've prepared. The video is taken from Episode 331 of DARK SHADOWS, taped Sept. 21, 1967, a busy day on the set. A photographer was present at ABC Studios in New York City and captured dozens of images of the show's production process. While he didn't need them in the episode taped that day, actor Jonathan Frid donned the fangs to illustrate how they were applied, and posed with co-star David Henesy on the set of the "Old House" in an image that would later appear on the cover of issue #6 of the Dark Shadows Gold Key comic. The video below composites all of those images into a handy 30-second file. If you enjoy it, you can find more on the CHS's Facebook page and Instagram account.

Barnabas Collins makes his four-color debut

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the first appearance of Barnabas Collins on DARK SHADOWS. To celebrate the occasion, The Collinsport Historical Society is spending the week looking back at the "introductions" of the character in various media.

By WALLACE McBRIDE

By 1969, everybody wanted a piece of DARK SHADOWS. The television show was a pop culture phenomenon, with Jonathan Frid's likeness appearing on everything from Halloween costumes to the sleeves of Top 40 albums. With children of all ages going nuts for Barnabas Collins it seemed like a natural to translate DARK SHADOWS into a four-color comicbook. There was only one problem:

Formed in 1954, the Comics Code Authority was a blight on the comics industry and set the medium back decades. It was the end result of a congressional witch hunt, which alleged that comics were turning America's youth into a bunch of drug-crazed, homosexual criminals. In order to appease congress, the industry agreed to create the Comics Code Authority, a self-governing body that would make sure icky material no longer found its way into American comic books.

It was a pretty shitty deal.

The larger publishers began to abuse their power almost immediately, creating "rules" designed to muscle some publishers out of the industry. EC Comics is the most famous victim of the code, which brought an end to its lines of horror and crime comics. Among the subjects declared off limits by the CCA were zombies, werewolves and vampires.

So when DARK SHADOWS became a thing, Marvel and DC were unable to pick up the license for the series. Third-tier publisher Gold Key had no such problems because they were not members of the CCA. They were among the few publishers to opt out of the deal and continued publishing whatever the hell they wanted.

At the start of 1969, Gold Key added DARK SHADOWS to a roster that already included STAR TREK, TARZAN and BORIS KARLOFF: TALES OF MYSTERY. While I admire Gold Key's magnificent pair of brass balls, I wish I could say their bravado was worthwhile. Their comics kinda suck.

The first issue of DARK SHADOWS hits the ground running, summarizing Barnabas Collin' background in a single page. From there, the comic begins to introduce a cast that includes a red-headed Angelique, Willie Loomis and Dr. Julia Hoffman. The tale is a lot more elaborate than it needs to be and told with the manic aggression of a pathological liar: It feels as though the story is being made-up as it goes along, ending as soon as the creators hit their required page count.

Here's a thumbnail synopsis of the story, titled "The Vampire's Prey": Two college kids visit Collinsport to investigate the mysterious disappearance of one of their ancestors, one Reverend Trask. Barnabas is naturally concerned because he bricked up Trask in the walls of his home many years earlier and is concerned the kids might find him out. Angelique intervenes to make his life miserable and bad things happen. And these "bad things" are surprisingly boring.

The biggest problem with Gold Key's DARK SHADOWS comic is an utter absence of character. If you were to read the comic's dialogue out of context you'd have a difficult time trying to figure out who was supposed to be saying it. It's not only faceless, it's propped up by artificial drama: The characters spend the duration of the issue shouting at each other, no matter how relaxed the situation. Literally every line of dialogue in this issue ends with either an exclamation point or a question mark. Adding to the story's false sense of urgency is Barnabas' insistence on running everywhere he goes.



Still, the book sold well enough, even outlasting the original television series by several years. But you won't find a lot of "art" in the series, despite its healthy run. While other publishers hired writers and artists with a desire to lift the medium from its illegitimate status, Gold Key had other ideas. Their books were just "stuff" produced to satisfy market demand and are only interesting today as relics. I wish things were otherwise. Perhaps in a parallel time fans got to read a DARK SHADOWS book created by folks like Steve Ditko, Michael Fleisher, Gene Colan and Roy Thomas ... in their primes, no less.

Here's a photo of an adorable kitten to help offset whatever depression might result from that previous paragraph.

Barnabas Collins meets ... the Banana Splits?

Gold Key was essentially a comic book ghetto during much of its existence. While Marvel and DC were slowly changing the world with superheroes during the 1960s, Gold Key was gobbling up media licenses to publish mostly forgettable comics based on movie and TV properties. It's not that Gold Key hired poor talent; but they certainly provided poor editorial leadership. I try not to think about the good work that might have been produced with a good editor at the helm of the company's DARK SHADOWS, STAR TREK or THE MAN FROM UNCLE comics. Imagine Steve Ditko drawing DARK SHADOWS and try not to cry.

Gold Key's status as third-class citizens in the comic book world makes some of their books that much more interesting, though. That's not the same thing as good, mind you, but it's hard not to smile when seeing the likeness of Jonathan Frid buried in the back pages of Gold Key's THE BANANA SPLITS comic. Last week, Miss Baconalia found a teaser for the DARK SHADOWS comic in the pages in the second issue of THE BANANA SPLITS and sent me a few photos.

If you've got the theme from THE BANANA SPLITS stuck in your head now, I've included a video at the bottom of this post to help you get through it. Yes, that's Liz Phair singing.

Vintage DARK SHADOWS comic art up for auction

I've mentioned before how much I love the work of George Wilson, the artists that created many of the covers for Gold Key's DARK SHADOWS comics during the 1960s and '70s. (Seriously, LOOK AT THIS.) A few pieces of his original art are now available at Heritage Auctions, among them his painting for issue #20, first published in June, 1973. If I had to guess what's happening in the image, I'd say that Quentin Collins has invented a game called "Mad Science Tee Ball," and Barnabas is upset that he wasn't asked to play.

There's a metric ton (I've weighed it*) of Wilson's art currently available at Heritage Auctions, included cover art for issues of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, STAR TREK and BORIS KARLOFF: TALES OF MYSTERY. You can find them HERE.

(*No, I didn't.)

Via: Heritage Auctions

Mars Attacks!

Martian Manhunter, a DC Comics character created in 1955 by Joseph Samachson and Joe Certa, made a surprise appearance last night on the CBS television show SUPERGIRL. You might know Certa better as a regular contributor to Gold Key's DARK SHADOWS comic series.

The TV version keeps close to Certa's original design of the character. You can take a look at him HERE.

More amazing DARK SHADOWS art is going up for auction

Another wonderful piece of art by George Wilson is going up for auction next month.

Back in August, Wilson's original cover art for issue #10 of the vintage DARK SHADOWS comic from Gold Key sold at Heritage Auctions for $2,270.50. On November 19, Wilson's original painted art used on the cover of #15 of that series is going on the market.

I love Wilson's work. If you place the winning bid on this piece of art, be advised that I'll be polite and cordial to you in public, but will privately hate you.

You can see the original artwork below, with an inset of the book's cover as it appeared in print.

Via: Heritage Auctions

The incredible DARK SHADOWS art of George Wilson

Gold Key was a comicbook publisher that never made much sense to me as a child. Even as a child it was obvious to me that the company was letting its licensed properties do all the heavy lifting. The publisher seemed to believe kids would buy anything as long as it had their favorite characters on the cover and, looking back at how long they made this business strategy work, they might not have been wrong. They managed to keep a STAR TREK comic in print for almost a decade, a feat that even Marvel and DC haven't been able to pull off.

In a sense, Gold Key was simply a company ahead of its time. By the 1990s, the major comics publishers had adopted a similar business model when they began to put a disproportionate amount of labor into the covers of their books, consequently neglecting the stories and art inside. Today, most independent comics publishers operate very much like Gold Key did in its prime, by staking a claim to any licensed property it can (whether it's VOLTRON, GHOSTBUSTERS or even DARK SHADOWS) to help support their original properties.

But damn, there's no denying that Gold Key knew how to package a book. While modern comics publishers sometimes fall back on die-cut covers, glow-in-the-dark ink and other gimmicks, Gold Key regularly smoked their competition with nothing more than a little watercolor and acrylic paint. Their books might have sucked, but they created some of the best (if under-appreciated) comics covers ever produced by the medium.

GEORGE WILSON was the artist who created most of the painted covers for Gold Key's DARK SHADOWS series, as well as for the company's FLASH GORDON, THE PHANTOM and TARZAN books. Not much is known about the guy, though. The EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS site www.erblist.com has this to say about the guy:

George Wilson

"I found only fragmented information on this artist who painted Gold Key’s covers. I have no birth date or place. He was in Normandy in the European theater in WWII. This suggests that he was born in the 1920s. He passed away on December 7, 1999. He was a prolific artist who did painted acrylic covers for paperback companies like Harlequin and Avon. His painted comic cover work was done for Classic Illustrated, Dell and then Gold Key. He did the covers for Turok, The Twilight Zone, The Phantom, Boris Karloff, The Outer Limits, The Jungle Twins, Brothers of the Spear, Star Trek, etc. His work on the 15 Avon Phantom paperbacks is a favorite series in my collection."

Part of Wilson's low profile comes from working for Gold Key, which relied almost heavily on licensed properties. He was also part of a generation of comic creators who saw their profession as a job, and rarely gave much thought to the dubious celebrity it brought with it. While the relative merits of Gold Key's books are debatable, it's hard to dispute that Wilson was an incredible talent whose work improved whatever book that accompanied it.

At the top of the page is Wilson's original comic art for issue #30 DARK SHADOWS, which was recently used as the cover for Vol. 5 of the Hermes Press reprints of this series. The next two images show the cover with the "paste up" lettering, and the final cover as it appeared in print.

If you want to see more of Wilson's work, check out this terrific gallery of his comic art.

Rare DARK SHADOWS comic art for sale

Here's something you don't see every day: The original artwork used for a cover of the old Gold Key DARK SHADOWS comic series is for sale.

Joe Certa's cover art for issue #31 is going for $850 at comicartfans.com.  The issue was published in 1975, and includes the story "The Doom of Hellgi Kolnisson." I'm just as confused by that title as you are.
 
While it's hardly my favorite art from the Gold Key line, it's a one-of-a-kind piece. Also: the art is goofy as hell. There's not a living room in America that wouldn't be improved by adding some framed art depicting a wizard zapping a vampire for the amusement of a (very bored looking) viking. I haven't read this issue, but can assume the viking is Barnabas' distant cousin, Leif Collins. (Note: that image to your right is something I made for for the CHS Tumblr feed last year.)

Trivia: Joe Certa is the co-creator of the DC Comics character Martian Manhunter.

If you want to pursue this item, you can find it HERE.

The inevitable DARK SHADOWS/DARK SHADOWS crossover

Do you remember the time Lara Parker made an appearance on the 1991 DARK SHADOWS "revival" series? No? Well, it sorta happened.

As producer Dan Curtis was making the promotional rounds for the series, he occasionally mentioned the possibility of cast members from the original television series making guest appearances on the new program. In his memoirs IN AND OUT OF THE SHADOWS, actor David Selby says he was invited by Curtis to reprise his role of Quentin Collins on the revival. "I told Dan that I was too old to play Quentin, who never ages thanks to the Dorian Grey portrait," he recounts. While Selby would visit the set of the series to speak with actress Jean Simmons, he admits he refused the role out of respect for his experiences on the original series.

Lara Parker/Lara Hoffman.

The new DARK SHADOWS lasted only twelve episodes, which was hardly enough time to accommodate any kind of appearance by members of the original cast. (Now that I think about it, Jonathan Frid would have made an awesome Professor Stokes.) But the opportunities for cameos didn't end with the television series.

As with the show's previous incarnation, the "revival" was accompanied by a comicbook series. Unlike the Gold Key comics published in the 1960s and '70s, though, Innovation's tie-in to the 1991 series was lush, imaginative and created by people with a clear understanding of the property.

And, in the November 1992, issue of the Innovation series, Lara Parker loaned her likeness to "Lara Hoffman," the aunt of Barbara Steele's "Dr. Julia Hoffman." (Parker is only two months older than Steele, but whatever.)

Innovation made a splash a few years earlier with an adaption of Anne Rice's THE VAMPIRE LESTAT. A 12-part mini-series, the comic was a hit and placed Innovation on the industry map. Unfortunately, publishers misinterpreted the success of that book, turning its lushly painted style into a company wide aesthetic. Almost every book by Innovation was made to look like the Anne Rice adaption, whether if worked with the story or not. When it came to books like THE MASTER OF RAMPLING GATE (another Rice adaption) and DARK SHADOWS, the style was a perfect fit. With adaptions of properties such as QUANTUM LEAP and LOST IN SPACE? Not so much. Within a few years, the novelty of THE VAMPIRE LESTAT had turned into a cliché, and few of Innovation's titles came close to matching the success of its first hit. (I've also heard stories that editors had a passion for cleavage that would have made Hammer Studios blush, routinely kicking back pages to artists with instructions to "SHOW MOAR BOOBZ!" Although the memos were probably phrased a bit more professionally.)

With DARK SHADOWS, Innovation lucked into series that was a good match for its company aesthetic. It helped that the book's writers were willing to take stories in strange new directions, rarely relying on any incarnation of the TV series for guidance. It introduced new villains, explored existing relationships and filled in a few of the gaps created by the television show's rush to introduce Barnabas Collins into the mix. For fans of the show, Innovation's book was required reading at the time.

Unfortunately for all involved, DARK SHADOWS was cancelled in early 1991. A few of the show's actors have made appearances on Big Finish's terrific line of audio dramas, but the TV series' final episode remains one of televisions great unresolved cliffhangers. As with Gold Key, Innovation's DARK SHADOWS lived longer than its inspiration. The company completed a pair of four-part series before going out of business in 1993. Sadly, Innovation folded after the ninth issue of DARK SHADOWS, leaving yet another storyline unfinished to this day.

If you're interested in tracking down this series, all nine issues are inexpensive and easy to find through outlets like Ebay and Amazon. Visit the DARK SHADOWS WIKIA for details about the individual issues.

Dark Shadows Facebook Banners

I'm always on the lookout for Dark Shadows images that could make for interesting banners for the new Facebook "timeline" design. I was tinkering around with a few this morning and thought I'd share them. Help yourself to the images below and use them however you wish. This batch is taken from art from the classic comic series from Gold Key.